This invention relates to method and apparatus for caging poultry caught at a growing site for live haul transport to processing plants where they are slaughtered and dressed for market.
The poultry industry today in the United States and in other countries provides a huge amount of the country""s consumable protein, centered on chickens and turkeys. Poultry are raised from chicks to eating size free roaming in a structure called a xe2x80x9chousexe2x80x9d, a xe2x80x9cchicken housexe2x80x9d in the case of chickens. Eating size is typically a five to six pound live weight for a xe2x80x9cbroilerxe2x80x9d chicken destined for broiling, frying, grilling, or the like, heavier for chickens for stewing and the like, and often in the forty to fifty pound range for turkeys. When poultry have reached eating size, they are caught, caged and hauled to a poultry processing plant where they are slaughtered and dressed for market. The part of the poultry industry that is responsible for catching, caging and hauling the poultry to a poultry processing plant is called the xe2x80x9clive-haulxe2x80x9d industry. The term xe2x80x9cpoultryxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cbirdxe2x80x9d are used interchangeably and generically refer to chickens, turkeys or other fowl raised for consumption.
A typical modern chicken processing plant receives, slaughters and dresses from 50,000 to 300,000 chickens per day, and a few as many as 500,000 to 700,000 per day. The processing plant must have caged chickens at the plant ready to be unloaded and slaughtered in order to maintain a continuous operation. The live-haul operators are charged with this responsibility. The live-haul process has to be done efficiently and expeditiously in order both to keep the bird numbers flowing to the processing plant and to minimize bird death from holding the poultry too long in cages where massed body heat of the caged poultry causes them to dehydrate without chance of re-watering (especially in hot weather months).
The high daily throughput requirements of modern poultry processing plants in the United States has led to the development of improvements designed to facilitate rapid loading and unloading of caught poultry. Before these improvements were developed, caught poultry were deposited into wooden or plastic single compartment coops that opened at the top accessible from a closeable hatch. Coops were individually man-handled onto flatbed trailers and stacked in side-by-side columns to form rows of stacks that were then lashed to the trailer for transport to the processing plant. At the processing plant, these single compartment coops caused a bottleneck, because the chickens had to be withdrawn by hand. As processing plant slaughter line numbers and speed increased to meet growing sales demands, this bottleneck needed to be overcome, and in consequence, the modern steel poultry cage was developed and is universally used in today""s high volume processing plants.
This cage is a multi-tied, multi-compartmented structure having over-the-center, spring loaded doors at the front of each compartment. The doors facilitate not only loading but unloading. At the processing plant the cage is tilted forward (towards the doors) causing the weight of the caged chickens to press against the doors until the spring load is overcome, snapping open the doors and allowed all the chickens in the cage to be dumped from the cage compartments onto wide conveyor collector belts leading to slaughter lines.
The modern steel poultry cage, now a design standard in the United States, is of a size that fits an over-the-road flatbed trailer, which is restricted in width to about eight feet for travel on public roads. Such cages for chickens, have tiers of side-by-side compartments (a row). Each compartment is directly over or under another compartment in a different tier, providing a column of vertically superimposed compartments. Each compartment has a solid fiberglass floor and a front opening, bottom hinged, over-the-center spring loaded solid door that closes a portal or front opening to the compartment. The cage tiers number four, five or six, and have two or three compartments per tier. In a cage having three compartments per tier (called a xe2x80x9cthree doorxe2x80x9d cage), the individual compartments run about four feet deep, are about a foot high, and are about 31 inches wide (side to side). In a xe2x80x9ctwo door cagexe2x80x9d, the compartments are about 48 inches wide. The compartment width sets the length of the cage, about eight feet, since the length is essentially a combination of compartment widths. Compartment depth sets cage depth. Thus a cage is about eight feet long and four feet deep. A typical compartment holds about 17-20 chickens of five to six pounds for a load of about 100 pounds of chickens per compartment. A five tier xe2x80x9cthree doorxe2x80x9d cage (15 compartments) carries about up to about 260-300 chickens at a total of about 1500 pounds of chicken per cage.
Weighing in at 1500 pounds of chickens when filled, the poultry cages are provided with fork tubes built into them along the length of the cage to allow the entire cage to be lifted with a forklift. Fork spread of forklift trucks and cage rigidity mandate that the fork tube pair incorporated into the cage structure run along the length of the cage at the front and rear base of the cage, putting the tubes about four feet apart corresponding to cage depth. Cross members ties together the fork tubes.
A typical live haul crew has chicken catchers, a forklift truck driver and a truck driver for each truck towing a flatbed trailer loaded with cages. Operations using the poultry cages start at the processing plant where empty cages are placed with forklift trucks on flatbed trailers with the length of the cage running across the width of the trailer, the single orientation permitted by the run of the fork tubes where the only approach available to the forklift to load the length of the trailer is from the side. Cages are loaded side by side the length of the trailer, then another row of cages is stacked and lashed atop the bottom row.
A forklift truck accompanies the cages to the chicken house farm where grown chickens ready for slaughter are to be caught in the house and are caged for transport to the processing plant. At the farm, the driver of the forklift truck has certain logistical factors to observe, both in unloading and delivering empty cages to a catching crew, and in fetching filled cages and loading the filled cages on a flatbed trailer for transport to the processing plant. When loading filled cages onto the transport trailer, good practice is to place the cages on the trailer with the cage doors facing all one way, preferably to the front where the doors face the wind, for better efficiency in unloading the cages at the processing plant for dumping. If the forklift driver picks up a filled cage with the doors to the driver""s right, in order to place the doors to the front of the trailer, the driver must approach the trailer from the right side of the trailer (viewed from the rear of the trailer to the front). If the forklift driver picks up a filled cage with the doors to the left, in order to place the doors to the front of the trailer, the driver must approach the trailer from the left side of the trailer.
At the poultry house farm, the forklift truck perpendicularly approaches the trailer carrying empty cages (now unlashed), spears a cage with the forks inserted into the cage fork tubes, lifts and removes the cage, and carries it into the chicken house. Inside, the forklift takes the cage to a working area and elevates one fork higher than the other to tilt the cage from rear to front (front higher than the back). A worker places a prop under the cage to fix the tilt, the forks are withdrawn, and a worker opens the cage doors. Chicken catchers grab poultry by the legs, several at a time, and push them into the tilted cage through the opened front. The inserted poultry instinctively want to right themselves immediately and move up to the opening of the compartment to escape. The solid and comparatively smooth plastic surface of the compartment floor is a new phenomenon to poultry raised on a rough litter surface, and the poultry have a more difficult time gaining purchase of it with their clawed feet. This difficulty combined with tilt of the smooth floor makes it harder for the self righting poultry to immediately scramble from the cage compartment. (As more birds are loaded in the tilted up cage, the birds gravitate to the back and load more weight to the rear than the front. If the cage is too steeply tilted, the cage will tip over backwards during loading. Experience has shown that a safe cage tilt angle is in the range of from about 11 to about 16 degrees from horizontal.)
During the time a cage is being filled, the forklift truck returns to the trailer, fetches another empty cage, brings it to the work area, tilts it by raising one fork more than the other, allows a crew member to prop it at the desired angle, withdraws the forks, and drives to the now filled cage, approaching it from a side that will position the cage doors to the left or right of the driver, whichever is the correct orientation for placing the cage on the trailer with the doors to the front of the trailer. The filled cage is forked from the proper side with the forks positioned one side higher than the other to fit the tubes at their relative elevation for the angle at which the cage is propped up. The cage is then lifted, the forks are adjusted to equal elevation thereby to level the cage, and the cage is carried out of the poultry house to the trailer upon which it is placed in proper orientation.
The speed with which the tilted cage is filled by the workers and the speed with which the tilted filled cage is retrieved and leveled by the forklift is important. The first poultry loaded in a compartment of the tilted cage are impressed by the weight of the later loaded poultry, which are xe2x80x9cup-slopexe2x80x9d to them in that compartment with the door closed. This xe2x80x9cburyingxe2x80x9d of the poultry in the rear of a compartment continues so long as other compartments are being loaded and until the filled and tilted cage is retrieved and leveled by the forklift. If too long a time is taken to load the cage for retrieval or for the fork lift to pick up and level a cage already loaded, poultry at the rear of the cage risk smothering.
Modern poultry science permits raising about one chicken per 0.6 square foot of area. U.S. chicken houses typically are single story, about 40 feet wide, and from 300 feet long (12,000 square feet) to 500 feet long (20,000 square feet). A typical chicken house of from 12,000 to 20,000 sq. ft. may contain from about 20,000 to 33,000 chickens. Loading a three door five tier cage of 15 compartments each with about 20 five pound chickens (about 300 per cage), means that catching a 20,000 bird house requires about 66 cages (about three trailers) and a 30,000 bird house needs about 100 cages (about four trailers). A catcher typically catches several chickens in each hand and lifts them into an open cage compartment in the loading process. At a nominal five pounds per bird and two or three chickens per hand, each lift deposits up to 15 pounds, sometimes more, until all the chickens are caught and loaded. With nine catchers in a typical crew catching a 20,000 bird house, each catcher cages 5xc2xd to 6 tons of chickens.
The physically demanding nature of chicken catching, the hugely increasing volume of chickens being processed for consumption, and a shrinking labor pool for this kind of work in the United States has led to efforts to automate and mechanize the catching and cooping process. These efforts, indeed, are international, with efforts in different countries focusing on the particular live haul problems found in those countries. In Europe, chicken raising and consumption has not advanced to the huge scale in the United States, and perhaps for that reason the front-doored steel cage construction in wide use in the United States has not been universally adapted there; instead mechanization there has developed for loading and handling plastic trays or drawers largely of open top construction.
Examples of U.S. Patents granted to European inventors and directed to catching and/or caging chickens in open top containers include:
Generally, efforts to mechanize the chicken catching and caging process have fallen into either the catching process alone or that process combined with a process for cooping poultry after capture. There have been numerous designs.
Examples of patents granted for inventions for the bird catching methods or apparatus only include the following (all to European inventors):
Examples of patents granted for inventions for catching and cooping or just cooping captured poultry (specifically turkey in one particular case) are the following:
Among the patents listed in Table 3 are examples showing different approaches to staging coop frames or cages for serial loading of successive such coop frames or cages. Other patents directed only to staging successive frames or cages for loading include U.S. Pat. No. 5,476,353 to Mola and U.S. Pat. No. 5,791,854 to Cattaruzzi.
The foregoing designs have found only limited acceptance in the live haul industry, and the industry continues to demand a viable solution. Important considerations for a mechanized poultry cager include that it has to be transported on public roads to the poultry farm. At the poultry house, it should be able to enter the house and work there within width and height limitations imposed by frame of the house. Grower houses in the Unites States are not uniform in configuration. Some have a center post narrowing the span within which the equipment can travel. House end door heights and widths can be a limiting factor. Rafter heights range are normally about eight feet or more in the more modern houses in the Georgia, Arkansas, Texas and other southern chicken raising states. During the catching process, chicken feeder troughs and watering troughs typically are drawn up to the rafters to get them out of the way. This effectively reduces the overhead clearance for catching and caging equipment.
A mechanized poultry catching and caging operation that is to be usefully engaged in the United States must work with the modern steel poultry cages now standard in the United States, and must be supported by a constant supply of empty cages for filling, and at the same time, removal of cages already filled. A mechanized poultry cager should allow for maneuverability of cooperating forklift trucks which must bring it empty cages and remove filled cages. It should facilitate rapid cage filling and should be easy and simple to operate in order to maximize the skill levels of the labor pool who will be available to operate it. Machinery for providing a constant supply and removal of cages in addition should be narrow enough to be towed both over public roads and, necessarily, in poultry houses where the mechanized catching and loading operations must be supported. Further, it should integrate with the logistics for forklift operations at the farm site that are described above, allowing forklift placement and removal of cages in proper orientation for correct loading on a flatbed transport trailer.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,660,147 and 5,699,755, cited in Table 1 above, describe one method for handling coops in connection with catching and loading chickens, using a towed working trailer in which a rectangular cage frame is longitudinally placed on the right rear of the trailer, advanced and turned to the front of the trailer for filling, and returned longitudinally to the left rear for removal. The cage frames have open top slidable drawer coops. The coop drawers are slidable in and out from either side of the cage frame, so there is no actual front or rear to the frame and coops. Thus it is unimportant whether the right side or left side of the cage frame is placed longitudinally on the towed working trailer, advanced to the front, and returned to the rear. This cage cycling system does not work for a steel cages with front loading doors such as used in the United States where the orientation of the front loading doors must be taken into account. If the system described in these patents were used with a steel cage having front opening doors, it would be necessary to deposit the cage on the described right rear loading location with the doors oriented to the right side of the trailer in order to turn the doors to face the front, as indicated in these patents, for cage filling. This would result in the cage being returned to the rear offloading position with the doors oriented to the left side of the working trailer. Thus a forklift driver would be constrained to unload the front doored cages from the right side of the transport trailer and to load the filled cages onto the left side of the trailer. This is unsuitable for a general purpose device.
Some of the above cited patents describe mechanisms for staging and filling steel poultry cages having front opening doors, namely, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,325,820, 5,592,902 and 5,706,765. U.S. Pat. No. 5,325,820, using a side filling process, places two cages on opposite sides of a conveyor aisle such that viewed from the rear of the apparatus, the cage on the left of the aisle has its doors on the right, and the cage on the right of the aisle has its doors on the left. Placement of the cages onto and removal of the cage from this apparatus requires forklift access to both sides of a transport trailer and is accordingly unsuitable for general use. U.S. Pat. No. 5,592,902, using a front filling process, places and removes a front doored cage with the doors to the same side, but cannot stage a second empty cage until after a first empty cage is filled and returned to an off loading position. U.S. Pat. No. 5,706,765, using another side filling process, places and removes a front doored cage with the doors to the same side, but the manner of staging of the cages is unsuitable for front filling, because it requires a forklift to approach the staging platform from the side for offloading a filled cage while one is placed in filling position, thus the staging platform would have to be at least twice as wide as the cage length. Since these cages typically run 8 feet long, the platform would be at least 16 feet wide, too wide for towing over public highways and too wide for a working trailer in many chicken houses. U.S. Pat. No. 5,476,353 to Mola and U.S. Pat. No. 5,791,854 to Cattaruzzi are based on a carousel concept.
In general, forklift maneuverability for side access to a staging platform is limited in chicken houses; most permit only forklift access longitudinally in the house, and since the catching and caging operations longitudinally precede the cage deposit and retrieval operations in the chicken house, forklift access is usually constrained to an approach from the rear, not the side.
Among the purposes of this invention is to provide a working platform, preferably a towable working trailer, useful in connection with mechanized poultry catching and front loading equipment that will allow front opening steel poultry cages to be deposited onto the rear of the working trailer with the doors facing one side of the trailer, will reposition the cage to the front of the trailer for front loading, and will return the loaded cage to the rear for offloading with the doors oriented in the same direction as when originally placed on the working conveyor. Further a purpose is to obtain the forgoing, while simultaneously allowing deposit of an empty cage as one cage is filling, with positioning of that empty cage for filling while the filled cage is repositioned for offloading. Still further, it is an objective to accomplish all this yet still permit the working trailer to be trailered over public roads and towed in chicken houses.
These and other benefits are given by the present invention.
This invention comprises methods and structure for continuously receiving, batching, and loading poultry into front-doored, multi-compartmented, multi-tiered poultry cages that are serially and continuously staged for loading. The invention includes individual major components and combinations of the major components in cooperating systems. The components comprise a novel poultry batcher and loader and a novel cage stager. The poultry batcher receives poultry in a plurality of bins oriented side by side, and the poultry loader reciprocates in front of the bins to receive poultry batches from the bins and discharge the poultry batches at high loading speed into compartments of the poultry cage. The stager moves empty cages into position for receipt of the poultry, employing novel staging platforms which receive empty cages with their doors facing in one direction (say, to the right as the platform is viewed from the rear), and after the cages are loaded with the poultry, moves the cages to another position on the platform for removal with the doors still oriented in the original direction (to the right, in this example). This facilitates efficiency in fetching empty cages from a trailer for loading with poultry and picking up loaded cages for placement on a trailer for transport to a processing plant.
In general, the method for loading poultry in accordance with the invention comprises (a) removing poultry from one of a plurality of bins arranged side by side for receiving poultry while not removing poultry from the others of the bins, (b) directly receiving the removed poultry on a belt conveyor and discharging the removed poultry at high loading speed into an open doorway of a compartment of a transversely facing front-doored multi-compartmented poultry cage, followed by repeating operations (a) and (b) sequentially with respect to the others of the bins.
In our invention, birds are not merely passed individually from one conveyor to another that in turn feeds the birds more or less serially into a compartment of a poultry cage. Instead, in our invention, the birds are formed into separate batches in a plurality of receiver bins, a conveyor belt is moved in front of one of the batches, the batch is moved onto the loader conveyor, and the loader conveyor, simultaneously moving at high loading speed, propels the entire batch essentially as a group into the cage compartment.
High loading speed is important in realizing the full advantages of the batching and loading method and apparatus of the invention. As explained in the xe2x80x9cBackground of the Inventionxe2x80x9d, when birds are manually placed through a doorway into a cage compartment, they ordinarily immediately try to resist going towards the back of the compartment and seek to escape out the doorway. If a train of birds is being attempted loaded by a conveyor belt into the compartment at less than a high loading speed, the lead birds of the train aren""t propelled all the way to the back of the compartment and seek their escape going counter flow to birds entering the compartment behind them in the train coming off the conveyor. This tends to impede the flow of the birds trailing them into the compartment, clustering or bunching incoming birds toward the front portion of the compartment, slowing completion of delivery of the last of the birds in the train into the compartment and sometimes allowing some of the birds to escape. If the birds aren""t loaded fast enough, the loader becomes a choke point to the catching and loading process, slowing the entire process of catching and caging birds.
We have discovered that, for a loading conveyor in loading alignment with the portal of a cage compartment, birds are efficiently loaded into a cage compartment in a manner alleviating bird bunching at the front portion of the compartment if the loading conveyor is operated at a speed sufficiently fast to propel the lead birds in a batch of birds all the way to the back of the compartment (with the remainder of the birds in the batch loaded right behind the lead bird just as fast as the lead birds). As used in this description, we therefore use the term xe2x80x9chigh loading speedxe2x80x9d to mean a speed sufficient to propel lead birds in a batch of birds all the way to the back of a cage compartment.
We have found that a loader belt speed of about 100 feet per minute per pound of bird is about the minimum high loading speed that is effective for efficiently loading broiler weight chickens, in most instances, if the cage is tilted up with compartment floors down sloping (as is typical for manual loading). The expression xe2x80x9cper pound of birdxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cper pound of poultryxe2x80x9d refers to an average weight of birds being loaded. Preferably the high loading speed is more in the vicinity of about 150-200 feet per minute per pound of bird. Thus, for a nominal broiler weight chicken in the range of about five to about seven pounds, loader belt speed should be at least about 500 feet per minute up to at least about 1050 feet per minute up to about 1400 feet per minute. We have found that a belt speed of about 800 to 900 feet per minute, suitably about 850 feet per minute, is generally acceptable as a default or starting point for a high loading speed for the usual broiler weight bird, subject to adjustment as necessary in the particular situation. If the cage is not tilted up as is conventional, higher loader belt speeds may be appropriate because the birds seeking escape do not have gravity to overcome as they do with a down sloping floor. If the birds are wet, higher speeds may be needed more than if the birds are dry.
The lower limits of the xe2x80x9chigh loading speedxe2x80x9d of the loader conveyor belt is a speed sufficient to propel the batch of birds into a cage compartment as a bunched mass or group substantially all at once, on their feet, standing, crouching or squatting, propelling the lead bird all the way to the back of the compartment. The upper limit of xe2x80x9chigh loading speedxe2x80x9d is a loading conveyor belt floor speed beyond which the speed is so fast, relative to the speed of the birds when they are received on the loading belt conveyor, that the birds aren""t able to stay upright, that is, the speed of the loading belt conveyor floor topples the birds off their feet and puts them on their side or back. On their back or side, the lead birds deposited at the back of the compartment, especially if the cage is tilted up for loading, aren""t able to push off birds that follow on top of them in mass and so aren""t able right themselves. Unrighted, the lead birds may smother under the mass of birds on top of them in the time it takes to load the entire cage if the cage is tilted up for loading. Inevitably, some birds will loose their feet even at minimum high loading speeds. When we speak of birds being propelled into the compartment on their feet, we mean on the whole the speed is not so fast as consistently to topple the birds in large proportions. Some losses due to toppling will be acceptable as a cost of faster loading efficiencies.
If the birds are accelerated immediately from standstill to a high loading speed, the birds may be toppled off their feet, depending on the weight of the birds, the speed of the loading belt, slickness of the surface of the conveyor belt (they get dirty in use and sometimes wet) and perhaps other variables. At the lowest limits of a high loading speed it may be possible for the receiving bin conveyor belt floor and the loading conveyor belt floor to operate at substantially the same speeds without toppling the birds, and the invention encompasses that possibility, so long as the loading conveyor belt speed is effective to propel the leading birds in the bunch all the way to the back of the compartment of a cage. However, we prefer to accelerate the birds from standstill to high loading speed in two steps, first from standstill at a receiving bin conveyor belt floor speed slower than minimum high loading speeds and sufficient such that when the birds transfer onto the loading conveyor belt floor that is moving at least at the minimum high loading speed, preferably higher, the incremental leap in acceleration is insufficient to topple the birds, even as the loading belt speed exceeds 1000 feet per minute or more for broiler weight chickens. That is, by incrementally moving the batched birds from standstill to high loading speed in stepped speeds, on being moved onto the faster loading conveyor belt, the birds aren""t toppled off their feet, as they are move likely to have happen if they are accelerated all at once from standstill to a high loading speed. For example, receiver bin conveyor belt floor speeds of suitably about 200-450 feet per second for broiler weight chickens, for example about 350 feet per minute for a loader belt speed of 850 to 900 feet per minute, suitably bring the birds to a speed for transfer onto the loading conveyor belt such that the loader belt speeds can range to in excess of 1000 feet per minute without toppling the birds.
More particularly describing the methodology of loading the birds, the method comprises the operations of (a) receiving poultry in a plurality of bins, each bin having an independently operable conveyor belt floor having a poultry receiving end and a poultry discharging end, the bins being arranged side by side such that their conveyor belts are substantially parallel, (b) moving transversely, to the direction of the conveyor belts of the bins, a poultry loading conveyor belt floor arranged in the same direction as the belts of the bins, the poultry loading conveyor belt floor having a poultry discharging end, and positioning the poultry loading conveyor belt floor in alignment with the conveyor belt floor of a the bin containing poultry, (c) rotating the bin conveyor belt, with which the poultry loading conveyor belt is aligned, in the direction of the discharge end of such bin conveyor belt while maintaining stationary the conveyor belts of the other of the bins, to selectively discharge the poultry in such bin with which the poultry loading conveyor belt is aligned, (d) receiving the discharged poultry on the poultry loader conveyor belt floor that is in alignment with the bin from which the poultry are discharged, and (e) rotating the loader conveyor belt in the direction of the discharge end of such loader conveyor belt at a high loading speed to discharge the poultry received on the poultry loader conveyor. Then, (f) after the poultry are discharged in operation xe2x80x9c(e)xe2x80x9d into the compartment, repeating operations xe2x80x9c(b)xe2x80x9d-xe2x80x9c(d)xe2x80x9d with respect to another of the bins containing poultry, and (g) rotating the loader conveyor belt at high loading speed to discharge the poultry received on the poultry loader conveyor belt floor into a compartment of the cage different from the facing compartment loaded in operation (e), through a door opening of the different compartment. Operations (f)-(g) are repeated until all cage compartments in a tier of the cage are loaded with poultry.
The standard poultry cage is multi-tiered, so in this respect the methodology further comprises (h) adjusting the elevation of the bins and the poultry loading conveyor belt to match the elevation of a tier of the cage containing one or more empty compartments, and (i) repeating operations (a)-(e) and if necessary also operations (f) and (g) until all empty cage compartments in such empty compartment tier are loaded with poultry.
The loading process also includes metering the birds so that a selected amount of birds (a xe2x80x9cbatchxe2x80x9d) are loaded into the compartments of a cage. As mentioned above, a three door cage holds about 20 five pound chickens per cage or about 100 pounds. In a more complete picture of the methodology for loading poultry, it includes, in addition to operations (a)-(g) described above for a single tier of a poultry cage, the further operations of (j) lifting poultry from the floor of a chicken house and placing the lifted poultry into one of the bins while determining the amount of poultry placed into such bin, (k) ceasing placement of poultry into such bin when a predetermined amount of poultry is placed in such bin, and (l) repeating operations (j) and (k) for any empty bins among the plurality of bins.
Before the poultry can be loaded into the cages, the poultry must be received for batching, and before they are received for batching, they must be picked up off the poultry house floor and lifted to distribute them to batching receivers. Thus, viewed in the broader context of xe2x80x9ccatchingxe2x80x9d the poultry to be loaded, the catching and loading methodology can be capsulized as (a) collecting and lifting poultry from the floor of a poultry house, (b) placing the lifted poultry into a plurality of bins, (c) removing poultry in one of the bins while not removing poultry from the others of the bins, (d) receiving the removed poultry directly from the removing means and discharging the removed poultry at a high loading speed into a compartment of a transversely facing opened-door front-doored compartment of a multi-compartmented poultry cage, and (e) repeating operations (c) and (d) sequentially with respect to the others of the bins.
Broiler weight chickens in a growing house will run a spread of weights, and distribution of amounts of birds (by weight or count) into receiving bins will be only approximate even from bin to bin. Bird catching mechanism efficiency and operator proficiency not only at the bird catching end but also at the end distributing birds into the receiving bins will affect the amount of birds per unit time reaching the receiving bins. The many variables involved do not admit of one set of lift and receiver belt speeds. In practice, we have observed, that for a high loading speed of about 800 to 900 feet per minute for broiler weight chickens, a receiver belt speed of about 300 to 400 feet per minute adequately matches up with a lift conveyor speed of about 200-300 feet per minute and a distributor conveyor speed of about 200-300 feet per second.
This invention provides means for accomplishing the functions described above that are part of the methodology of this invention for catching, lifting, batching and loading poultry into front-doored, multi-compartment poultry cages.
Embodying this methodology in a poultry batcher and loader of this invention is (a) a plurality of longitudinal bins arranged side by side for receiving poultry, (b) means for each of the bins for longitudinally removing poultry from one of the bins while not removing poultry from the others of the bins, and (c) means transversely alignable with any of the poultry removal means for the bins for directly longitudinally receiving removed poultry from one of the removing means and longitudinally discharging the removed poultry at a high loading speed into a compartment of a transversely facing open-doored front-doored compartment of a multi-compartmented poultry cage.
In the broader system view, the poultry loader apparatus of the invention integrates with catching apparatus to comprise, in capsule: (a) means for collecting and lifting poultry from the floor of a poultry house, (b) means for placing the lifted poultry into a plurality of bins arranged side by side, (c) means for each of the bins for removing poultry from one of the bins while not removing poultry from the others of the bins, and (d) means transversely alignable with any of the poultry removal means for the bins for directly receiving removed poultry from one of the removing means and discharging the removed poultry at a high loading speed into a compartment of a transversely facing open-doored front-doored compartment of a multi-compartmented poultry cage.
Structure embodying the poultry batcher and loader of this invention for batching and loading poultry into the front door openings of a front-doored, multi-compartmented cage includes a support and a plurality of poultry receiving bins carried by the support. Each bin has a longitudinally arranged, independently operable, conveyor belt floor having a poultry receiving end and poultry discharging end. The bins are arranged side by side such that their conveyor belts are substantially parallel. Poultry receiving bin conveyor belt drivers drive each of the poultry receiving bin conveyor belts independently and intermittently. A poultry loader for distributing poultry from the bins comprises a longitudinally arranged conveyor belt floor with a poultry discharging end. A carriage supports the loader conveyor belt longitudinally to the bin conveyor belts. The carriage, which is mounted on the aforementioned support, is moveable transversely to the longitudinal direction of the conveyor belts of the poultry receiving bins so that the loader conveyor belt can be placed in longitudinally alignment with the individual conveyor belts of the poultry receiving bins that contain poultry. A poultry loader conveyor driver drives the poultry loading conveyor belt at high loading speed.
A bird weight measurer is operatively associated with the poultry receiving bin conveyor belts or structure immediately supporting the belts for measuring the weight of poultry received in one or more of the bins on the belts. A reporter reports the weight measured by the weight measurer. An operator employs the report to determine when a predetermined amount of chickens have been loaded into a receiving bin. When the operator perceives from the reporter that a predetermined amount of poultry has been received in a receiving bin, the operator redirects the flow of birds lifted from the floor of the poultry house to a bin among the other of the bins that is empty of birds. While that empty bin is receiving lifted birds, the poultry loader is moved to one of the filled receiving bins.
Preferably but not necessarily an electrical contact alignment switch for each poultry receiving bin is contacted and closed when the loader conveyor belt of the poultry batcher is center aligned with the conveyor belt of that bin, to enable manual operation of an operator controlled switch for the drivers for both the conveyor belt floor of that receiving bin and the aligned loader conveyor belt. The driver for the receiving bin belt conveyor operates that conveyor at a speed preferably less than the minimum high loading speed, and the driver for the loading belt conveyor operates that conveyor at a speed at a high loading speed, all as described hereinabove. Use of the enabling alignment switch prevents the operator from powering on the receiving bin and loading conveyor belts when the loading conveyor is not totally aligned with the receiving bin. In lieu of the electric contact alignment switch, an optics system comprising a light source, for example a laser pen or diode and a receptor responsive to the wavelength band of the source and coupled with a switch may be used as a sighting or alignment system. An electrical contact alignment switch is preferable because the operating environment is dirty, and dirt may impair operation of an optical system. In either instance, the belt drivers enabling switch (contact or optical) provides the benefit of avoiding accidental discharge of birds.
The xe2x80x9calignment switchxe2x80x9d is helpful where there are three or more receiving bins: two outside and at least one inside bin. If the switch were to switch on the belt drivers directly, as opposed to enabling their manual operation, then when the loading conveyor is moved from an alignment with an outside receiver bin to alignment with the other outside bin, to fill an empty cage compartment longitudinally aligned with the other outside bin (as for example, where cage compartment aligned with the inside bin is already filled with poultry and the both the inside receiving bin and the other outside receiving bin are filled), then when the loading conveyor is moved across the inside bin, the switch would directly engage the drivers for both the inside bin belt and the loader belt and empty the inside bin, and the loader belt would spew poultry toward an already filled compartment (whose cage door will normally have already been closed) with ricochet of birds everywhere.
Of course where a two door cage is being loaded, a direct engagement switch may be of benefit.
The poultry batcher and loader of the invention is vertically moveable in order to load all tiers of a multi-tiered, multi-compartmented poultry cage. For loading a cage that is tilted up to provide down sloping compartment floors, the batcher/loader raising and lowering apparatus is designed to maintain a uniform distance, as the loader moves up and down, between the discharge end of the loader conveyor and the edges of the opened cage doors that vertically recede with each higher tier of a tilted up cage. The structure providing this function for the poultry batcher and loader includes a fixed first or lower support base that has a rear end and a front end and is inclined from the rear end to the front end at a minor acute angle from horizontal that is selected to match the angle at which the cage will be tilted up (or equivalently, is set at a minor acute angle that the elevator, described below, with be set to tilt up the cage to match). A moveable second or upper support base mounts the poultry receiving bins and the poultry loader. A lift assembly is connected to the lower and upper support bases for lifting or lowering the upper support base relative to the lower support base such that the angle of the upper support base is maintained at the angle of the lower support base throughout the course of lifting or lowering. An hydraulically powered scissors lift efficiently provides this function. Other means suitable for lifting the upper support base at the angle of the lower support base throughout the course of lifting or lowering include a cable/chain pulley system or a piston powered straight lift with staggered piston rod heights.
It is to be understood that while the preferred mode is having the poultry batching and loading apparatus inclined to match the angle of the tilted cage, the cage is not required to be angled, and in that case, of course, the lift structure for the batching and loading apparatus will elevate the batching and loading apparatus straight up and down so that the discharge end of the loading conveyor belt is maintained at a substantially constant distant from the ends of the lowered doors of the un-tilted cage. The loading arrangement of this invention sufficiently propels the birds into the cage compartments that cage tilting is not necessary for operation; however, cage tilting allows a lower high loading speed. Thus in total scope, the invention includes means for lifting the upper support relative to the lower support to maintain the distance relationship between the edges of the cage doors and the discharge end of the loading conveyor, regardless of whether the cage is tilted or not.
As mentioned above, an important component of the system is a novel stager for staging front-doored multi-compartment cages having fork tubes along length of the cage, for frontal filling of the cages. In broad terms, a stager in accordance with this invention comprises a platform having a front, a rear, two sides each longer than the rear and a centerline. The centerline is an imaginary line running from the platform front to rear and marking the center between the sides of the platform. It does not require, but does not prevent, structure from being located there. There is a place of origin at a first rear portion of the platform to one side of the centerline, for receipt of a cage placed with the cage fork tubes longitudinal to the sides of the platform and the cage doors facing a selected first direction towards or away from the centerline. There is a place of destination at a second rear portion of the stager on the other side of the centerline, and there is a place of cage filling at the front of the platform between the sides. The stager includes means for moving an empty cage put on the platform from the place of origin finally to the place of destination with the doors of the cage remaining facing the same selected direction upon final arrival of the cage at the place of destination.
Thus viewing the stager from the rear at the centerline, if the place of origin is to the left of the centerline (putting the place of destination on the right of the centerline) and if a cage is deposited at the place of origin with the cage doors facing the centerline, then the cage doors would face to the right. In accordance with the present invention, when the cage arrives loaded at the place of destination, the cage doors will still face the right, away from the centerline. The reverse applies too. If the place of origin is to the right of the centerline and the place of destination is to the left of the centerline, and if the cage doors at the place of origin face the centerline, the doors (viewed from the rear of the stager) will be on the left of the viewer when the empty cage is deposited on the place of origin, and will be on the left of the viewer when the loaded cage arrives at the place of destination. Alternatively, with the place of origin to the left of the centerline, a cage deposited there with the cage doors facing away from the centerline (to the viewer""s left) will arrive loaded in accordance with this invention at the place of destination with the cage doors facing the centerline (to the viewer""s left). The viewer is, of course, the driver of the fork lift who places the cages on the place of origin and who removes the cages from the place of destination.
Thus, the stager of this invention, in its several forms, always returns loaded cages for removal with the doors facing in the same direction with respect to the driver as the doors faced when the driver deposited the cage on the stager at the place of origin. This reduces the number of operations the driver has to accomplish. The driver does not have to pick up a filled cage and take it to a location to set it down and drive to the other side of the cage and pick it up again and then drive to the trailer to load the filled cage on the trailer in the proper orientation. The driver needs only to fetch an empty cage from a trailer and return the filled cage to the trailer facing the same direction as the empty cage. This allows the driver to load the filled cage faster and so fetch another empty cage quicker for return to the stager and placement at the place of origin.
Between empty cage departure on the stager from the place of origin and final cage arrival loaded at the place of destination, means rotate the cage in substantially discrete two quarter turns such that at the place of filling, the cage doors face the front of the platform and after leaving the place of filling and upon reaching the place of destination, the cage doors face the original selected direction (the direction they faced when deposited at the place of origin.
Thus a staging methodology for staging front-doored multi-compartment cages having fork tubes along length of the cage, for frontal filling of the cages, comprisesxe2x80x94on a platform having a front, a rear, two sides each longer than the rear, a centerline, a place of origin at a first rear portion of the stager to one side of the centerline, a place of destination at a second rear portion of the stager on the other side of the centerline, and a place of cage filling at a front portion of the platform between the sidesxe2x80x94the operations of placing an empty cage at the place of origin with the cage fork tubes longitudinal to the sides of the platform and the cage doors facing a selected direction toward or away from the centerline, moving the cage on the platform from the place of origin finally to the place of destination with the doors of the cage remaining facing the same selected direction upon arrival of the cage at the place of destination, and between departure from the place of origin and arrival at the place of destination, rotating the first cage in substantially two quarter turn increments such that at the place of filling, the cage doors face the front of the platform, and after leaving the place of filling and before reaching the place of destination, the cage doors of the filled cage face the selected direction.
In one embodiment of the staging invention, for example, the staging method is one in which the selected direction of the cage doors is facing away from the centerline. The cage is first moved directly from the place of origin to the place of destination, thence to the place of filling, and thence back to the place of destination, rotating the cage in the first quarter turn between the place of destination and the place of filling, and rotating the cage in the second quarter turn between the place of filling and the place of destination.
In this embodiment, therefore, the method comprisesxe2x80x94on a platform having a front, a rear, two sides each longer than the rear, a centerline, a place of origin at a first rear portion of the stager to one side of the centerline, a place of destination at a second rear portion of the stager on the other side of the centerline, and a place of cage filling at a front portion of the platform between the sidesxe2x80x94placing the cage at the place of origin with the cage fork tubes longitudinal to the sides of the platform and the cage doors facing away from the centerline; thence moving the cage on the platform from the place of origin to the place of destination and thence to the place of filling, rotating the cage substantially a quarter turn after leaving the place of destination and by the time of arrival at the place of filling, such that at the place of filling, the cage doors face the front of the platform. After that the cage is moved on the platform from the place of filling to the place of destination, and the cage is rotated substantially a quarter turn such that on arrival at the place of destination, the cage doors face the same selected direction as when the cage was placed at the place of origin.
The foregoing sequence of operations applies whether the place of origin is on the right or left of the centerline (from the viewpoint of the fork lift driver).
Another more preferred embodiment of the staging invention has the advantage of less cage movement on the platform. This allows more cages to be placed, filled and removed from the platform in a unit of time. This staging method is one in which the selected direction of the cage doors of the empty cage is facing towards the centerline. The cage is moved directly from the place of origin to the place of filling, thence to the place of destination, rotating the cage a first quarter turn between the place of origin and the place of filling, and rotating the cage for a second quarter turn between the place of filling and the place of destination.
In this latter embodiment, therefore, the method comprisesxe2x80x94on a platform having a front, a rear, two sides each longer than the rear, a centerline, a place of origin at a first rear portion of the stager to one side of the centerline, a place of destination at a second rear portion of the stager on the other side of the centerline, and a place of cage filling at a front portion of the platform between the sidesxe2x80x94placing a first the cage at the place of origin with the cage fork tubes longitudinal to the sides of the platform and the cage doors facing towards the centerline; thence moving the first cage on the platform from the place of origin to the place of filling, rotating the cage substantially a quarter turn such that at the place of filling, the cage doors face the front of the platform; and thence moving the first cage on the platform from the place of filling to the place of destination, rotating the cage substantially a quarter turn such that on arrival at the place of destination, the cage doors face the same direction as when the cage was placed at the place of origin.
The foregoing sequence of operations applies whether or not the place of origin is on the left or right of the centerline (from the viewpoint of the fork lift driver)
More particularly describing the latter more preferred embodiment in the form of a unitary platform in accordance with the invention for staging a front-doored compartment multi-compartmented poultry cage having fork tubes extending along the front and back of the cage at the base of the cage transverse to the direction of front door opening, the platform comprises a frame having (an imaginary) longitudinal centerline and longitudinally connected front and rear ends. The frame mounts transversely to the longitudinal centerline at least two wheel axles carrying wheels supporting the frame above ground level. A supporting surface is mounted on the frame. A tray is horizontally pivotally mounted to one side of the frame centerline in a front portion of the frame and is supported on the aforementioned supporting surface. The tray has a front end and a rear end and opposing sides and is pivotable, from a home position in which the sides of the tray are transverse to the frame centerline, to an away position in which the sides of the tray are substantially parallel with the frame centerline. The sides of the tray are an xe2x80x9cinxe2x80x9d side and an xe2x80x9coutxe2x80x9d side. The former is the side closer to the frame centerline than the latter side when the tray is in the away position.
Continuing with the description of this unitary platform embodiment, a first cage mover is supported by the frame in a rear portion of the frame on the same side of the centerline where the tray is in the away position. The first cage mover has a first engager for engaging a poultry cage placed on the rear portion with the cage fork tubes longitudinally aligned substantially parallel to the longitudinal centerline of the frame and the cage doors facing the centerline. The first cage mover also has a first force transmission drive for moving the engaged cage so aligned toward the front end of the frame and onto the tray in the away position. A pivot member is provided on the platform adjacent the frame centerline between the front and rear ends of such frame. A second cage mover is provided on the frame on the side of the centerline opposite the first cage mover. The second cage mover has a second engager for engaging the cage on the tray when the tray is in the home position, and has a second force transmission drive carrying the second engager for moving the engaged cage towards a rear portion of the frame on the opposite side of the centerline, in so doing turning the front end of the tray towards the away position and pivoting the back of the cage on the pivot member to align the cage with its fork tubes substantially parallel to the longitudinal centerline of the frame when the cage is at the rear portion of the frame on the opposite side, and with the cage doors facing away from the centerline.
This unitary platform embodiment of a cage stager may also and preferably but not necessarily will include an elevator attached to the frame adjacent the front end of the frame and elevatable above the support surface for tilting up the poultry cage to ready it for loading. The cages are normally tilted up rear to front at a minor acute angle. This will be an angle that is effective to make it more difficult for birds to escape from a compartment during loading (as has been conventional with manual loading) but not so steep as to risk the cage from falling backwards as birds are loaded in it and weight the cage to the rear of the cage. An angle in the range from about 11 to about 16 degrees to the horizontal is generally suitable for this purpose, although a lesser or greater angle may be used within the constraints of risking fall over. The elevator provides an elevation in this range that matches the slope of the base support of the cage loader so that uniform distance is provided between the discharge end of the cage loader and the receding edges of the doors at successively higher tiers of the cage, as explained above. The xe2x80x9cin-sidexe2x80x9d of the platform tray has an opening or recess through which the elevator can elevate above the tray when the tray is in the home position. The xe2x80x9cout-sidexe2x80x9d of the tray comprises an flange angled to substantially the same angle from horizontal as the cage is to be tilted up. This flange member provides a backstop to fix the back base of the cage on the tray and prevent it from sliding or skidding off the tray toward to the rear of the platform when the elevator tilts up the front of the cage to ready it for loading.
For over-the-road transport of the preferred stager mode (in which the cage doors of empty cages are placed on the stager facing in the direction of the stager centerline), it is preferred for reasons of convenience in compactly trailering the stager to the poultry house farm to employ a stager comprised of two parts combinable at the farm site. The two parts are a leading chassis and a trailing chassis.
The leading chassis comprises a leading chassis frame having a longitudinal centerline and longitudinally connected front and rear ends. The leading chassis frame mounts transversely to the longitudinal centerline at least one wheel axle carrying wheels supporting the leading chassis frame above ground level. Aligning and connecting members are provided at the rear of the leading chassis frame for aligning and connecting the leading chassis to a trailing chassis. A rear platform is on the leading chassis frame rear. A tray is horizontally pivotally mounted and supported on the rear platform on one side of centerline. The tray has a front end and a rear end and has opposing sides and is pivotable from a home position in which the sides of the tray are transverse to the longitudinal centerline of the leading chassis frame, to an away position in which the sides of the tray are substantially parallel to the longitudinal centerline of the leading chassis frame.
The trailing chassis includes a trailing chassis frame having a longitudinal centerline and longitudinally connected front and rear ends. The front end has mating members for the aligning and connecting members for connecting the trailing chassis in longitudinal alignment with the leading chassis. The trailing chassis frame transversely mounts at least one axle for carrying wheels, the wheels supporting the trailing chassis frame above ground level substantially at the same elevation as the level of the leading chassis. A supporting surface is mounted on the trailing chassis frame. A first cage mover is supported by the trailing chassis frame in a rear portion of the trailing chassis on the same side of the trailing chassis centerline where the tray on the leading chassis is in the away position. The first cage mover has a first engager for engaging a poultry cage placed on the rear portion of the trailing chassis with the cage fork tubes longitudinally aligned substantially parallel to the trailing chassis centerline and the cage doors facing the centerline. A first force transmission movement carries the first engager for moving the engaged cage so aligned toward the front end of the trailing chassis and off the trailing chassis onto the tray in the away position on the leading chassis. A pivot member is located adjacent the trailing chassis centerline between the front and rear ends of the trailing chassis frame. A second cage mover is on the trailing chassis on the side of the trailing chassis centerline opposite the first cage mover. The second cage mover has a second cage engager for engaging the cage on the tray on the leading chassis frame when the tray is in the home position, and has a second force transmission movement carrying the second engager for moving the engaged cage towards a rear portion of the trailing chassis frame on the opposite side of the centerline, in so doing turning the front of the tray towards the away position and pivoting the back of the cage on the pivot member to align the cage with its fork tubes substantially parallel to the longitudinal centerline of the trailing chassis when the cage is at the rear portion of the trailing chassis frame on the opposite side, and with the doors facing away from the centerline.
This more conveniently transportable two chassis embodiment also may and preferably does have an elevator attached to the leading chassis frame adjacent the front end of such frame and elevatable above the rear platform, in the same manner and for the same purpose as in the unitary platform embodiment. And as in the unitary platform embodiment, the in-side of the tray (on the leading chassis) has an opening through which the elevator can elevate above the tray when the tray is in the home position, the out-side comprising an upstanding retainer member to provide the brace for the back base of the cage when it is tilted up.
Thus, a method is more particularly provided for staging a front-doored compartment multi-compartmented poultry cage having fork tubes extending along the front and back of the cage at the base of the cage transverse to the direction of front door opening. The method comprises (a) placing a first the cage on one side of a longitudinal frame centerline in a rear portion of a support surface fixed on a frame having longitudinally connected front and rear ends, with the cage fork tubes longitudinally aligned substantially parallel to the longitudinal centerline of the frame and the cage doors facing the centerline, (b) engaging the first cage placed on the rear portion and moving the engaged cage so aligned toward the front end of the frame and onto a tray in an away position of the tray, the tray being horizontally pivotally mounted on the same the one side of the centerline in a front portion of the frame and supported on the surface, the tray having a front end and a rear end and opposing sides and being pivotable from a home position in which the sides of the tray are transverse to the frame centerline, to the away position in which the sides of the tray are substantially parallel with the frame centerline, (c) moving the tray to the home position where the cage doors face the front of the frame, (d) engaging the first cage on the tray in the home position and moving the engaged cage in the direction of the rear of the frame on the opposite side of the centerline from the one side, in so doing turning the front of the tray towards the away position and pivoting the back of the cage on the pivot member to align the cage with its fork tubes substantially parallel to the longitudinal centerline of the frame when the cage is at the rear portion of the frame on the opposite side, and with the doors facing away from the centerline, and (e) removing the first cage from the support surface.
This method further comprising, after operation (b) with respect to the first cage, placing a second the cage on the one side of the longitudinal frame centerline in the rear portion, with the second cage fork tubes longitudinally aligned substantially parallel to the longitudinal centerline of the frame and the doors of the second cage facing the centerline, and after commencing operation (d) with respect to the first cage, performing operations (b)-(d) on the second cage.
As is seen from the foregoing, there is provided, in accordance with this invention, a system for loading poultry into a series of front-doored multi-compartmented poultry cages. The system comprises (a) a plurality of poultry receiving bins arranged side by side, (b) means structurally associated with the bins for longitudinally removing poultry in one of the bins while not removing poultry from the others of the bins, (c) means longitudinally arranged relative to the removing means for receiving the removed poultry directly from the removing means and longitudinally discharging the removed poultry at a high loading speed into an open compartment of a transversely facing front-doored compartment of the poultry cage, and (d) means for staging a series of empty the poultry cages on a platform having a front end and a longitudinal centerline, such that the cage doors face in a selected direction towards or away from the centerline when an empty cage is on a rear portion of the platform on one side of the centerline, face the front end of the platform transversely to the centerline at a front portion of the platform for loading with poultry, and face in the same selected direction towards or away from the centerline at a rear portion of the platform on a side of the centerline opposite from the one side for removal of a loaded cage from the platform.
The system for loading poultry in a series of front-doored multi-compartmented poultry cages is based on a method of the invention that comprises (a) placing a first of a series of empty the poultry cages on a platform having a front end and a longitudinal centerline, initially such that the cage is on one side of the centerline with the cage doors facing the centerline, then (b) moving the cage to a front portion of the platform transversely to the centerline with the doors facing the front of the platform, (c) longitudinally delivering poultry at a high loading speed directly and serially into open compartments of the transversely front door facing poultry cage, (d) after the cage is loaded with poultry, moving the loaded cage on the platform to the opposite side of the centerline from where the empty cage was initially placed so that the doors of the cage face away from the centerline, (e) removing the first cage from the platform, (f) at anytime after operation xe2x80x9c(b)xe2x80x9d, placing a second of the series of empty poultry cages on the platform, such that the second cage is on the one side of the centerline with the cage doors facing the centerline, and then (g) repeating steps xe2x80x9c(b)xe2x80x9d-xe2x80x9c(e)xe2x80x9d with respect to the second cage.
More particularly, the method using this system comprises (a) placing a first cage on one side of a longitudinal frame centerline in a rear portion of a support surface fixed on a frame having longitudinally connected front and rear ends, with the cage fork tubes longitudinally aligned substantially parallel to the longitudinal centerline of the frame and the cage doors facing the centerline; (b) engaging the first cage placed on the rear portion and moving the engaged cage so aligned toward the front end of the frame and onto a tray in an away position of the tray, the tray being horizontally pivotally mounted on the same the one side of the centerline in a front portion of the frame and supported on the surface, the tray having a front end and a rear end and opposing sides and being pivotable from a home position in which the sides of the tray are transverse to the frame centerline, to the away position in which the sides of the tray are substantially parallel with the frame centerline; (c) moving the tray to the home position where the cage doors face the front of the frame; (d) without regard to operations xe2x80x9c(a)xe2x80x9d-xe2x80x9c(c)xe2x80x9d, (d)(1) receiving poultry in a plurality of bins, each bin having a longitudinal independently operable conveyor belt floor having a poultry receiving end and a poultry discharging end, the bins being arranged side by side such that their conveyor belts are substantially parallel, (d)(2) moving transversely to the longitudinal direction of the conveyor belts of the bins a poultry loading conveyor belt floor longitudinally arranged in the same the direction, the poultry loading conveyor belt floor having a poultry discharging end, and positioning the poultry loading conveyor belt floor in longitudinal alignment with the conveyor belt floor of a the bin containing poultry, (d)(3) rotating the bin conveyor belt, with which the poultry loading conveyor belt is longitudinally aligned, in the direction of the discharge end of such bin conveyor belt while maintaining stationary the conveyor belts of the other of the bins, to selectively discharge the poultry in such bin with which the poultry loading conveyor belt is longitudinally aligned, (d)(4) receiving the discharged poultry on the poultry loader conveyor belt floor that is in longitudinal alignment with the bin from which the poultry are discharged; (e) with operations xe2x80x9c(a)xe2x80x9d-xe2x80x9c(c)xe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9c(d)(1)xe2x80x9d-xe2x80x9c(d)(4)xe2x80x9d completed and with the door of a cage compartment facing the discharge end of the loading conveyor opened, rotating the loader conveyor belt in the direction of the discharge end of such loader conveyor belt to discharge the poultry received on the poultry loader conveyor belt floor into the facing compartment of the first cage, (f) closing the door of the facing compartment; (g) after the poultry are discharged in operation xe2x80x9c(e)xe2x80x9d into the compartment, moving the poultry loading conveyor belt floor transversely to the longitudinal direction of the conveyor belts of the bins and positioning the poultry loading conveyor belt floor in longitudinal alignment with the conveyor belt floor of another of the bin containing poultry, and repeating operations xe2x80x9c(d)(3)xe2x80x9d-xe2x80x9c(d)(4)xe2x80x9d and operation xe2x80x9c(e)xe2x80x9d with respect to the another bin containing poultry; (h) repeating operation xe2x80x9c(g)xe2x80x9d until all compartments in a tier are loaded with poultry; (i) adjusting the elevation of the bins and the poultry loading conveyor belt to match the elevation of a tier of the cage containing one or more empty compartments; (j) repeating operations xe2x80x9c(a)xe2x80x9d-xe2x80x9c(f)xe2x80x9d and if necessary also operations xe2x80x9c(g)xe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9c(h)xe2x80x9d until all empty cage compartments in such empty compartment tier are loaded with poultry; (k) after completion of operation xe2x80x9c(j)xe2x80x9d, repeating operations xe2x80x9c(i)xe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9c(j)xe2x80x9d until all tiers of the cage are loaded with poultry; (l) with the first cage loaded with poultry, engaging the first cage on the tray in the home position and moving the engaged cage in the direction of the rear of the frame on the opposite side of the centerline from the one side, in so doing turning the front of the tray towards the away position and pivoting the back of the cage on the pivot member to align the cage with its fork tubes substantially parallel to the longitudinal centerline of the frame when the cage is at the rear portion of the frame on the opposite side, and with the doors facing away from the centerline; (m) removing the first cage from the support surface; and (n) after operation xe2x80x9c(b)xe2x80x9d with respect to the first cage, placing a second cage on the one side of the longitudinal frame centerline in the rear portion, with the second cage fork tubes longitudinally aligned substantially parallel to the longitudinal centerline of the frame and the doors of the second cage facing the centerline, and after commencing operation xe2x80x9c(l)xe2x80x9d with respect to the first cage, performing operations xe2x80x9c(b)xe2x80x9d-xe2x80x9c(m)xe2x80x9d on the second cage.
A different method applies where the stager is placed on a platform facing away from the centerline. In that case, the method of loading poultry in a series of front-doored multi-compartmented poultry cages, comprises (a) placing a first of a series of empty the poultry cages on a platform having a front end and a longitudinal centerline, initially such that the cage is on one side of the centerline with the cage doors facing away from the centerline; thence (b) moving the cage on the platform to the opposite side of the centerline from where the empty cage was initially placed so that the doors of the cage face away from the centerline; thence (c) moving the cage to a front portion of the platform rotating the cage a quarter turn such that the cage is transverse to the centerline and the doors face the front of the platform; (d) longitudinally delivering poultry at high loading speed directly and serially into open compartments of the facing poultry cage; (e) after the cage is loaded with poultry, moving the loaded cage on the platform to the opposite side of the centerline rotating the cage a quarter turn such that the doors of the cage face towards the centerline; (f) removing the first cage from the platform; (g) at anytime after operation xe2x80x9c(b)xe2x80x9d, placing a second of the series of empty poultry cages on the platform, such that the second cage is on the one side of the centerline with the cage doors facing the away from the centerline; and then (h) repeating steps xe2x80x9c(b)xe2x80x9d-xe2x80x9c(e)xe2x80x9d with respect to the second cage.
These and other features of the invention will be seen from a detailed description of an embodiment of the invention and a description of an alternative staging apparatus and method for that embodiment.